Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Happy Birthday–April 20
Tommy Dowd (1869)
Charlie Hemphill (1876)
Charlie Smith (1880)
Mike Mowrey (1884)
Dave Bancroft (1891)
Roy Hofheinz (1912)
Preston Gomez (1923)
Tom Hutton (1946)
Milt Wilcox (1950)
Doug Clarey (1954)
Floyd Chiffer (1956)
Don Mattingly (1961)
Greg Brummett (1967)
Dan Smith (1969)
Todd Hollandsworth (1973)
Dan Smith was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 1987, but did not sign.
Game 17 Recap: Orioles 11, Twins 0
Well. That sucked. "Staff Ace" Pavano was ugly, Nathan gave up a huge bomb in his first "low leverage" work since being relieved of closing duties, seemingly half of the team is on the shelf, and the bats are still made out of ass. I guess that's the bad news.
The good news is that there are 145 baseball games left in the season. The good news is that one of those games is tomorrow. The good news is that the Twins' east coast road trips are almost over. The good news is the offense can't possibly be this bad all year. The good news is that maybe the equipment manager will realize that he meant to order ash bats. The good news is that the White Sox have lost 6 in a row. The good news is that Tigers have given up 13 runs (and counting!) to the Mariners.
Part of what I love about the WGOM, and a big part of what drove me to register and join the community, is that the people here are level headed (StatFreak101 excepted) and are comfortable riding out the ebb and flow of a baseball season. It is unfortunate that this isn't the prevailing attitude I hear about the Twins. Sports radio, the Star Tribune comment section, and lots of other Twins blogs are just frustrating to even look at. I assume a lot of this is due to the poor showings of the other professional sports teams, but this is a completely different team in a completely different sport. It sucks that this negativity rolls over for the Twins as well.
At least we have our little corner of the internet. This winter was long and very difficult, for a number of reasons. Twins baseball was one of the things I was looking forward to the most to try to get out of that funk. The season hasn't exactly started well, but it's early. Hey, the Twins won two out of their last 3. If they do that for the rest of the season, they'll be in good shape. I look forward to enjoying (most of) the rest of the season with you all in game logs, riding out the ebbs and flows together.
Final Score: Baltimore Orioles 11, Minnesota Twins 0.
Twins Record: 6-11, 6.0 GB in the AL Central.
WP: Jake Arrietta (2-1) | LP: Carl Pavano (1-2)
Things I'm Looking Forward To: Not playing the AL East.
Already Pitched More Innings Than Clay Condry: Eric Hacker.
2011 Game 17: Twins at Orioles
I didn't see a game log, so I tossed this one up in a panic. Yes, I know. I'm a sorry tosser. Game on.
Rock Cats Recap
Where they stand: New Britain is 7-4, second in the EL East, a half game behind Reading.
Who’s hot: Joe Benson is hitting .372/.426/.581 in 43 at-bats. Chris Parmelee is hitting .333/.362/.511 in 45 at-bats. Cole DeVries is 0-0, 0.00, striking out ten and allowing just two hits and no walks in 7.1 innings (three appearances). Steve Hirschfeld is 1-0, 0.82, allowing five hits and two walks in eleven innings (two starts).
Who’s cold: Mike Hollimon is 1-for-26, giving him a line of .038/.167/.154 (his hit was a home run). Allan de San Miguel is batting .167/.231/.250 in 24 at-bats. Brett Jacobson has allowed five runs on five hits and three walks in five innings (three appearances). Spencer Steedley is 0-1, 7.49, 1.94 WHIP in 5.2 innings (four appearances). He has struck out eight.
Transactions: Daniel Rohlfing was promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain. Danny Lehmann was promoted from New Britain to Rochester.
What’s next: The Rock Cats have two more home games with New Hampshire. They then go on the road for three in Portland, have an off day Sunday, and then have four in New Hampshire.
2011 Game 16: Twins 5, Orioles 3
Weather: 67°F, partly cloudy
Wind: 2 mph, out to CF
Attendance: 13,138
Time: 2:50
Twins record: 6-10 (tied for last in AL Central, 6.0 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap
Highlights:
- Highest WPA, hitter: Butera .224 (2-4, 1 2b, 3 RBI) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Hoey .236 (1.1 IP, K)
- Jim Hoey's firefighting in his Twins debut
- The Twins have now managed to string two wins together for the first time this season.
Lowlights:
- Lowest WPA, hitter: Span, -.087 (0-5, 2 SO) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Mijares, .020 (0.1 IP, HBP)
- Top 5 hitters in the order: 2-21, R, 8 SO
- Tolbert: still batting second
- Chris Guccione's kaleidoscope eyes
Given the night the top five batters in the order had, there's no way the Twins could have expected to win this game. Not with one of the four remaining spots in the lineup featuring a middle infielder with a bat -34.7 runs above average in 1108 career plate appearances. Not with one of the three remaining slots featuring a backup catcher, forced into a starting role, whose bat was worth -10.3 runs above average in 2010. Yet that backup catcher knocked in three of the evening's five runs and secured the win with what, thanks to some shaky ninth inning relief, proved to be a key run-producing double late in the game.
Continue reading 2011 Game 16: Twins 5, Orioles 3
Minor Details: Games of 4/18
Rochester at Buffalo. Postponed. Will be made up as part of a doubleheader this afternoon.
New Hampshire 7, New Britain 3 in New Britain. The Fisher Cats scored five runs in the third inning. It was the only bad inning David Bromberg had—he allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk in seven innings. Evan Bigley singled and doubled.
Ft. Myers 6, St. Lucie 4 in St. Lucie. The Miracle scored four runs in the seventh to take the lead. The inning was aided by three walks and two errors. Danny Rams singled and doubled and Nathan Hanson had two hits. Daniel Osterbrock allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and no walks in five innings. Andrew Albers got the win, allowing a run on no hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Dakota Watts retired the final two batters of the game to get the save.
Beloit 4, Wisconsin 2 in Wisconsin. The Snappers scored all four runs in the ninth to overcome a 2-0 deficit, hitting two doubles and then four singles. Every starter had at least one hit, with Kyle Knudson the only Snapper with two. Manuel Soliman gave up two runs on five hits and three walks in five innings while striking out seven. Matt Hauser got the win with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Jose Gonzalez struck out the only man he faced to get the save.
Twins Collectibles Spotlight: Shane Mack Baseball Cards
I noticed a while back that the various baseball card companies have been pretty single-minded in their choices for front photos for Shane Mack's baseball cards. Shane was a favorite of mine, and if you collected baseball cards in the early '90s, you'd know that he was quite the hustler on the base paths. To the left is his 1991 Upper Deck card #188.
Continue reading Twins Collectibles Spotlight: Shane Mack Baseball Cards
April 19, 2011: And the Oscar goes to…
The King's Speech is released today.
Happy Birthday–April 19
Bucky Walters (1909)
Hector Maestri (1935)
Rick Miller (1948)
Ed Hodge (1958)
R. J. Reynolds (1959)
Frank Viola (1960)
Spike Owen (1961)
Scott Kamieniecki (1964)
Brent Mayne (1968)
Jose Cruz (1974)
Joe Beimel (1977)
George Sherrill (1977)
Dennys Reyes (1977)
Joe Mauer (1983)
Right-hander Hector Maestri was with the Washington franchise in 1960, making one appearance in the majors. Before the 1961 season started, however, he was selected in the expansion draft by the new Washington franchise, for whom he made one more appearance in 1961.